How ought I build an XS perl module on OpenBSD when the requisite .so files are missing?
Background: On a vanilla OpenBSD 5.3 vm install, I'm unable to build a perl module which needs to link against -lpthread. pthread.a and pthread.so.Maj.Min do exist on the system.
However Makefile.PL is looking for pthread.so, which is absent. Is this ordinary for OpenBSD? (I can coerce the Makefile to link against pthread.a and things work just fine, as it happens.)
In a Redhat-ish Linux environment, I'd just install the right -devel RPM and go again. On OpenBSD, however, I'm missing something very basic about the development environment.
UPDATE The core problem was Dynaloader mis-detection of libraries inside Makefile.PL.
The Makefile is wrong, report the bug to the upstream. It never should look for a specific file. Look this example:
$ cat test.c
int main(){
return 0;
}
$ gcc -lpthread -o test test.c
$ ldd test
test:
Start End Type Open Ref GrpRef Name
00000c4321600000 00000c4321a02000 exe 1 0 0 test
00000c4521f63000 00000c4522374000 rlib 0 2 0 /usr/lib/libpthread.so.17.1
00000c4524c1c000 00000c4525103000 rlib 0 1 0 /usr/lib/libc.so.68.2
00000c452a100000 00000c452a100000 rtld 0 1 0 /usr/libexec/ld.so
Also, in OpenBSD you don't need install a -devel package. OpenBSD has the batteries included.
While editing your Makefile.PL is one way to go, I generally see folks use link files to point generic library/executable names to version specific names.
For Example:
pthread.so -> pthread.so.maj.min
pthread.so.maj -> pthread.so.maj.min
This way things that want the 'latest' version can get it via the link & thinks that just care about major version can grab the most recent release of it's major version...
Related
I am familiar with using package.json with node.js, Gemfile for Ruby, Podfile for Objective-C, et al.
What is the equivalent file for Perl and what is the syntax used?
I've installed a couple packages using cpanm and would like to save the package names and version in a single file that can be executed by team members.
For simple use cases, writing a cpanfile is a good choice. A sample file might look like
requires 'Marpa::R2', '2.078';
requires 'String::Escape', '2010.002';
requires 'Moo', '1.003001';
requires 'Eval::Closure', '0.11';
on test => sub {
requires 'Test::More', '0.98';
};
That is, it's actually a Perl script, not a data format. The dependencies can then be installed like
$ cd /path/to/your/module
$ cpanm --installdeps .
This does not install your module! But it makes sure that all dependencies are satisfied, so we can do:
use lib '/path/to/your-module/lib'; # add the location as a module search root
use Your::Module; # works! yay
This is usually sufficient e.g. for a git repository which you want others to tinker with.
If you want to create a tarball that can be distributed and installed easily, I'd recommend Dist::Zilla (although it's geared towards CPAN releases). Instead of a cpanfile we use a dist.ini:
name = Your-Module
version = 1.2.3
author = Your Self <you#example.com>
license = GPL_3
copyright_holder = Your Self
[#Basic]
[Prereqs]
Marpa::R2 = 2.078
String::Escape = 2010.002
Moo = 1.003001
Eval::Closure = 0.11
[Prereqs / TestRequires]
Test::More = 0.98
Then:
$ dzil test # sanity checks, and runs your tests
$ dzil build # creates a tarball
Dist::Zilla takes care of creating a Makefile.PL and other infrastructure that is needed to install the module.
You can then distribute that tarball, and install it like cpanm Your-Module-1.2.3.tar.gz. Dependencies are resolved, your packages are copied to a permanent location, and you can now use Your::Module in any script without having to specify the location.
Note that you should adhere to the standard directory layout for Perl modules:
./
lib/
Your/
Module.pm # package Your::Module
Module/
Helper.pm # package Your::Module::Helper
t/ # tests to verify the module works on the target syste,
foo.t
bar.t
xt/ # optional: Author tests that are not run on installation
baz.t
bin/ # optional: scripts that will later end up in the target system's $PATH
command-line-tool
Makefile.PL usually (along with a few other files; Perl has had packages for longer then any of the other languages you mention and suffers from a bit of inelegance here).
Module Starter is a sensible way to start writing a package. It has a getting started guide.
How can I print the version of the ncurses library? I use the Curses library from Perl. I do not care much about the version of the CTAN package which from what I understand is just the interface to access the curses library.
I downloaded the latest (unstable) version of ncurses from here:
http://invisible-island.net/datafiles/current/ncurses.tar.gz
I compiled it without error (with just ./configure and make) but have not yet done sudo make install
I would like to know how to (1) check which version of curses is installed and eventually (2) switch between versions.
Note that I am on Ubuntu 13.04. Perhaps the following information is helpful:
$ locate ncurses.h
/usr/include/ncurses.h
$ locate curses.h
/usr/include/curses.h
/usr/include/ncurses.h
/usr/include/python2.7/py_curses.h
$
It seems that indeed there is no function in Curses.pm to get the current (n)curses version.
You can write a small C program to get the value:
/* compile with "cc -lcurses filename.c" */
#include <curses.h>
main() {
printf("%s\n", curses_version());
}
On my system this prints ncurses 5.7.20100313.
But it would also be nice to have the curses_version() function also available from Curses.pm — maybe ask the Curses.pm author?
Do you have ncurses5-config (or ncurses-config, ncurses4-config, etc...) on your system? I for instance can do this on my CentOS 6 system:
$ ncurses5-config --version
5.7.20090207
which you could call from perl also:
my $ncurses_version = qx(ncurses5-config --version);
If you are working with different major versions, you might have to try a couple ncurses*-config commands, e.g.:
my $nc_version;
for my $nc (qw'ncurses-config ncurses5-config ncurses4-config') {
no warnings 'exec';
$nc_version = qx($nc --version) and last;
}
print "nc_version=$nc_version\n";
Hope this helps you,
Christian
Instead of adding or modifying files in the directory where the sources of a Perl module are unpacked, I would like to build everything in a separate directory. Is this easily achievable with a fairly standard Makefile.PL that uses ExtUtils::MakeMaker? (By easy, I mean something like one or a few command line parameters.) If no, does any of the other build systems support this?
Update / Reason: The Perl module is a binding to a library whose build system is autoconf/automake/libtool-based. The Perl module is shipped together with this library and calling make in the top directory eventually also builds the Perl library. I am interested in building the entire project in a separate build tree. At the moment I do something similar to what runrig suggested, only using symlinks. (cp -sru $(srcdir)/. $(builddir)/.). This has worked so far, but if there is a more elegant solution, I'd like to read about it.
MakeMaker already copies the sources and builds them in a separate directory (that's what blib/ is). You can control the build location with the INST_* set of arguments to WriteMakefile(). This example changes the location from blib/ to foo/.
INST_ARCHLIB => "foo/arch",
INST_LIB => "foo/lib",
INST_BIN => "foo/bin",
INST_SCRIPT => "foo/script",
INST_MAN1DIR => 'foo/man1',
INST_MAN3DIR => 'foo/man3',
In addition you have to tell MakeMaker to cleanup the new build directory.
clean => {
FILES => 'foo'
},
See "Determination of Perl Library and Installation Locations" in the ExtUtils::MakeMaker docs for more info.
cp -R Module-Directory-0.01 Module-Directory-0.01.copy
cd Module-Directory-0.01.copy
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test
...etc.
I ended up using symlinks:
The library to which the Perl module provides bindings uses an
autoconf/automake/libtool-based build system. Makefile.PL is
generated from Makefile.PL.in by configure. Makefile.PL
generates Makefile-pl (Makefile has already been taken by
autoconf/automake).
This is the relevant part of Makefile.am:
all: Makefile-pl src_deps
$(MAKE) -f Makefile-pl
Makefile-pl: Makefile.PL
perl Makefile.PL INSTALLDIRS=$(INSTALLDIRS) PREFIX=$(prefix)
I changed the second target to:
Makefile-pl: Makefile.PL
-[ $(srcdir) != $(builddir) ] && cp -rsu $(abs_srcdir)/. $(builddir)/.
perl Makefile.PL INSTALLDIRS=$(INSTALLDIRS) PREFIX=$(prefix)
This should work as long as building or installing the Perl module
does not result in any files being modified in-place.
I'm working on installing a perl module (not using CPAN) on a Linux machine. When I run the command:
perl Build.PL
I get the following error:
ERROR: Missing required field 'dist_abstract' for metafile
Could not get valid metadata. Error is: Invalid metadata structure.
Errors: Missing mandatory field, 'abstract' (abstract) [Validation: 1.4],
value is an undefined string (abstract) [Validation: 1.4]
at /usr/local/share/perl5/Module/Build/Base.pm line 4559
Could not create MYMETA files
I've tried Googling bits and pieces of this error but haven't found any solutions. Just looking for a clue as to what might be causing this error.
Here's a link to a zip file containing the files required to install it:
https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/brilewis/Filemanager_Public_Files/DataDownloader.zip
First at all please make sure you have package Module::Build installed.
You need ungzip few gzipped files in this package. I don't realize why author gzipped them:
gzip -d *.gz
I really don't know why author archived each install file. It looks like some mistake to me.
Than you can install all dependencies (this module requires some):
./Build installdeps
And then finally install module itself:
./Build
./Build test
./Build install
However I must warn you that this module packaged in a bit strange way and there's no guarantee it works.
The NAME section of the module does not have a - in it, e.g.,
=head1 NAME
Foo::Bar implements a Foo framework.
will fail, but if you make it
=head1 NAME
Foo::Bar - implements a Foo framework.
then it will work.
Do you have root access on your machine? Can you use the cpan utility to build and install your module. Using cpan is fairly straight forward:
$ cpan
After that, it will do a lot of configuration, simply take the default values. When it finishes, it'll come to a cpan> prompt. All you have to do there is type this:
cpan> install Module::Name
Where Module::Name is the module you're trying to install. Check the CPAN archive to get the name of your module.
If there are any dependencies, CPAN will ask if you want to download and install those. Say Yes, and CPAN will install the dependencies, then your module.
Using cpan is the best way to install third party modules you find in the CPAN archive. It takes care of all the dependencies, testing, and building for you.
Try installing through CPAN, and then see if you still have your issues.
I need to install two Perl modules on a web host. Let's call them A::B and X::Y. X::Y depends on A::B (needs A::B to run). Both of them use Module::Install. I have successfully installed A::B into a non-system location using
perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/non/system/location
make; make test; make install
Now I want to install X::Y, so I try the same thing
perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/non/system/location
The output is
$ perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/non/system/location/
Cannot determine perl version info from lib/X/Y.pm
*** Module::AutoInstall version 1.03
*** Checking for Perl dependencies...
[Core Features]
- Test::More ...loaded. (0.94)
- ExtUtils::MakeMaker ...loaded. (6.54 >= 6.11)
- File::ShareDir ...loaded. (1.00)
- A::B ...missing.
==> Auto-install the 1 mandatory module(s) from CPAN? [y]
It can't seem to find A::B in the system, although it is installed, and when it tries to auto-install the module from CPAN, it tries to write it into the system directory (ignoring PREFIX). I have tried using variables like PERL_LIB and LIB on the command line, after PREFIX=..., but nothing I have done seems to work.
I can do make and make install successfully, but I can't do make test because of this problem. Any suggestions?
I found some advice at http://servers.digitaldaze.com/extensions/perl/modules.html to use an environment variable PERL5LIB, but this also doesn't seem to work:
export PERL5LIB=/non/system/location/lib/perl5/
didn't solve the problem.
The answer is local::lib, but you probably already know that :)
OK, the following prescription did it:
perl Makefile.PL --skipdeps --no-manpages PREFIX=/non/system/location INSTALLSITELIB=/non/system/location/lib INSTALLSITEBIN=/non/system/location/bin INSTALLMAN1DIR=/non/system/location/man/man1 INSTALLMAN3DIR=/non/system/location/man/man3
This is just "monkey see monkey do" but now make test works.
The --skipdeps option here suppresses a convenient feature/exasperating problem with Module::Install where it tries to use CPAN.pm to download missing modules.
The --no-manpages is supposed to stop it installing man pages but it doesn't work.
Because this is the top link i thought i'd update with my experience (which has taken a while to get working, hence updating the 7 year old post).
first run perl -le 'print join $/, #INC'
add (note, no / at the end!!)
export PERL5LIB=/nonstddir/scripts/modules/lib/site_perl:/nonstddir/scripts/modules/lib
run perl -le 'print join $/, #INC' make sure the new dirs are added. this makes it work. if you add a / at the end of the path, the INC entry will look weird and wrong. Mine had a // in the middle.
When done and working, mine looks like
/nonstddir/scripts/modules/lib/site_perl/5.8.4/sun4-solaris-64int
/nonstddir/scripts/modules/lib/site_perl/5.8.4
/nonstddir/scripts/modules/lib/site_perl
/nonstddir/scripts/modules/lib/sun4-solaris-64int
/nonstddir/scripts/modules/lib
/usr/perl5/5.8.4/lib/sun4-solaris-64int
/usr/perl5/5.8.4/lib
/usr/perl5/site_perl/5.8.4/sun4-solaris-64int
/usr/perl5/site_perl/5.8.4
/usr/perl5/site_perl
/usr/perl5/vendor_perl/5.8.4/sun4-solaris-64int
/usr/perl5/vendor_perl/5.8.4
/usr/perl5/vendor_perl